Apindo to continue court battle against decree on minimum wage

Apindo to continue court battle against decree on minimum wage

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Employers' Association of Indonesia (Apindo) will proceed
with its judicial effort to have the minimum wage decree issued
by the Jakarta administration revoked despite a court's recent
decision in favor of the provincial administration.

The association made the statement following a report in The
Jakarta Post on Friday, which was based on a report from
Detik.com, and quotes Suparwanto, a senior official of Apindo, as
saying that the association had agreed to implement the minimum
wage as stipulated in the decree.

Apindo's vice president Djimanto denied the report, saying the
association was still pursuing its lawsuit to revoke the Jakarta
Gubernatorial Decree No. 3052/2001 which raises the minimum wage
for the Jakarta area to Rp 591,262 (about US$60) per month from
Rp 421,000 at present.

The association has filed the lawsuit with the State
Administrative Court in Jakarta, which, on Dec. 13, last year,
issued an injunction delaying the implementation of the
gubernatorial decree.

But, the Jakarta administration appealed the injunction.

The same court decided on Wednesday last week to lift the
injunction, ordering all companies in Jakarta to implement the
decree pending the final decision by the court on the matter.

Following the court's decision, Djimanto said, Apindo has told
its members to negotiate on the minimum wage with unions at the
plant level.

"Apindo is okaying the minimum wage in the sense that it can
be decided on by employers and trade unions at plant level,"
Djimanto said.

He stated that the association was still firm in its opinion
that the new minimum wage would create serious problems for the
businesses of its members, especially in view of the government's
plan to raise electricity and telephone charges and fuel prices
this month.